Botswana, Eswatini, South Africa’s Bishops Move to Implement Synodality, Urge Local-Language Access to Final Document

Johannesburg, 05 February, 2026 / 5:28 PM

Catholic Bishops in Botswana, Eswatini, and South Africa under the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) are moving from consultation to implementation of the Synod on Synodality, with plans to establish synodal teams in every Episcopal See and translate the Synod’s Final Document into local languages to widen access among the people of God. 

Speaking in an interview with the SACBC Communications Officer, Sheila Leocádia Pires, the Vice Chairperson of the SACBC Commission for Synodality, Bishop Thulani Victor Mbuyisa of the Catholic Diocese of Kokstad, said Diocesan synodal structures are now a priority.

The synodal teams, Bishop Mbuyisa explained, “will assist the Bishop to implement synodality in his Diocese.” 

He added that this is “a universal requirement, as the Synod Secretariat in Rome has communicated it to us,” noting that the teams must be registered both with the Episcopal Conference and the Secretariat in Rome.

The South African-born member of the Congregation of Mariannhill Missionaries (CMM) said the commission has already taken concrete steps to support implementation following the conclusion of the second session of the Synod on Synodality in October 2024. 

“As the Commission, we have already prepared summaries for the final document that was produced at the end of the second session of the Synod on Synodality in 2024,” he said.

A key concern now, he noted, is linguistic accessibility. “We’re hoping that these can be translated into our various languages by our pastoral regions – for instance, Setswana, Sesotho, Xhosa, Sisulu, Afrikaans, and all the others – so that our Catholics will be able to access this document in their own language as much as possible,” the Catholic Bishop said.

He added that the commission plans to continue accompanying Local Ordinaries and Dioceses throughout the implementation phase. This accompaniment, he said, may include workshops and direct engagement at the diocesan level. 

“Some of us are already involved in going to Dioceses and meeting with the various groups to try to explain what synodality is, and also looking at the final document as well as the implementation phase,” Bishop Mbuyisa said in the interview that was conducted on the sidelines of the SACBC January 21-27 Plenary Assembly.

He emphasized that the SACBC’s efforts are part of a wider global process. “We are not doing this just as a SACBC region, but we are also in collaboration and dialogue with other regions around the world, to share and to learn from one another in terms of how we are implementing synodality in our region,” Bishop Mbuyisa said.

Addressing a recurring point of confusion, the Bishop who also chairs the SACBC Justice and Peace Commission clarified that synodality should not be equated with democratic governance. 

“The Church itself is not a democracy, and synodality should not be understood as a democracy,” he said, while acknowledging that the Church supports good governance and the freedoms often associated with democratic systems.

Synodality, the South African Catholic Bishop explained, is fundamentally spiritual in nature. It “encourages listening, first of all, to the Holy Spirit, and then to listen to one another,” he said, referencing the biblical call to discern “what is the Spirit saying to the churches.”

Drawing on the late Pope Francis’ homily at the opening of the first session of the Synod in October 2023, Bishop Mbuyisa highlighted harmony as a key marker of authentic synodal life. 

“The Holy Spirit creates what he called harmonia, that is, harmony,” he said, and added, “Where there’s harmony, where there’s unity, where there’s working for the common good, then the Holy Spirit is there, is present.”

“So, anything else,” he went on to say, “then that’s just not the Holy Spirit, and that’s not synodality.”